Thom Latimer On Callbacks In Wrestling: Times Have Changed, It’s OK To Have A Bit Of Fun

Thom Latimer knows it’s ok to have more fun in the wrestling business now.

The NWA World Heavyweight Champion recently spoke with WrestleZone about callbacks and “Easter eggs” becoming more prevalent in today’s pro wrestling. Latimer noted how his feud with EC3 told a story over time, using subtle links to bridge the gap to the next match. He also honored the past in a more obvious way when he and Kamille dressed as Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth at NWA Samhain in 2023.

Latimer feels like times have changed in pro wrestling, so talent is more accepting of paying homage to the past. Now, performers have more freedom to express themselves openly.

“I felt like you couldn’t really get away with doing that stuff back in the day, or you would have been accused of being a big mark or an embarrassment or whatever. Whereas now, even taking a picture with another wrestler that you might look up to isn’t looked down upon anymore. Times have changed,” Latimer said. “So, I feel like maybe there’s a little bit of that, like it’s okay now to show that you are a fan of something.

“Even when I got into the job. I remember me and Nick [Aldis] being in the back of one of the vans to take us to the next job. We might have his DVD Player that are running some Dynamite Kid match or whatever, right? And the old-timers turn around like, ‘Turn that sh*t off you bloody marks.’ That was just how it was,” he added. “So, you didn’t do any of that kind of stuff.”

Thom Latimer on his Macho Man cosplay

Latimer said wrestlers can let people know they are a fan of something. Now, there’s also a new level of fun to it. His Samhain 2023 is a good example of that, although he joked that his wife made him wear the famed orange trunks to cosplay as Savage.

“I know the last Samain pay-per-view, me and Kailey [Kamille] dressed up as Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth,” Latimer explained. “Part of me is going, ‘Ah… This is a World Heavyweight Title Match.’ Even though it is a gimmicky sort of pay-per-view, I still want the World Title and things like that to be taken seriously. There was even a part of me wondering, ‘I don’t know if this is a good idea or not.’

“I probably won’t ever lose that feeling because that’s just engraved in me to [question it]. But yeah, times have changed. It is okay now to have a bit of a laugh and fun,” he added. “But then, also what does this sort of tell you about where we are in wrestling if you got to use the past to sort of get people excited? Does that mean that we are not making the stars that we used to do ten, twenty, thirty years ago? There’s all sorts of ways of looking at it.”